


Counterfeit

by AnotherLoser



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Criminals, Bisexual Barry Allen, Demisexual Mick Rory, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pansexual Leonard Snart, Rogue!Barry Allen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-01
Updated: 2018-01-17
Packaged: 2018-05-30 21:39:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 17,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6441823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnotherLoser/pseuds/AnotherLoser
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Barry's father is wrongfully arrested for murder, he only hangs around for a few months before successfully making an escape.  Eventually, while farther away from the areas he's familiar with, he meets Leonard and Lisa Snart.  Longer still before they take him in and he melds into the group of future rogues- criminals.  The particle accelerator explosion giving him powers, well that only adds new elements.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

Barry Allen was eleven. And a half, technically. But by now, his mother has been murdered in front of him, his father was wrongfully arrested, and he was sent to live with his best friend and her dad instead. Joe was a great parent, Barry knew he was a good person too, but that didn't stop him from taking his part in the arrest. No one listened. Not even Iris believed Barry about the man in the lightening. He was a kid trying to cope is all that they said- all that anyone said.

When he reached this point- getting close to _half a year_ since that night, not being allowed to see his father still, being shoved into another therapist office, still being bullied though he doesn't feel up to dealing with it anymore, still told he was seeing things that night, and expected to be recovering from it all. This is the point that he decides to give it another try.  
Joe and Iris said it was understandable for him to not be perfectly fine. But she didn't know what to do with him lately, and Joe wasn't much better. Aside from the moments when Barry felt better and ok again, no one knew how to even treat him. The last therapist he went to was just as bad if not worse. Barry snuck out of the bathroom window. Twice.

He doesn't want to be there anymore. He hardly wants to be around people at all, none the less passed off from one crowded space to another over and over again. He was never alone. At first it was a relief; being alone meant he'd feel alone and if he felt alone he couldn't help but just curl up in a ball and cry. Barry was starting to feel alone all of the time now. He had been for a week or two. It made everything so much more difficult when the things that used to make him feel better just didn't.

All he really wanted was his family. Iris was his best friend and Joe was like a second father or an uncle, but they weren't what he needed. When family came to mind it wasn't them, it was his dad and his mom and he couldn't see them. He's ran off to try and visit his dad numerous times now, but it only worked once. And his father told him not to do it again. Barry kept hopeful that he'd come around, maybe just call at some point. He never did.  
So if his dad doesn't want him, no one else knows what to do with him, and his mother is _gone_ , where did that leave Barry?

He just wanted to be gone. Anywhere but where he was. Anywhere without this situation.

The problem with running away before is that he was always going to prison to see his dad, or if he just didn't go home he was some place they knew he liked.  
Barry wasn't anywhere near those places now. He was on a bus. His backpack was filled with snacks and water bottles, a notebook, a change of clothes, and his saved up allowances and small payments for doing extra chores. Barry Allen was not returning home.

The problem with running away, is that Barry had no where specific to go. He went near the city limit and from there just walked. Walked and walked and just looked around for anywhere that looked empty. It turns out that finding an abandoned building or house wasn't as easy as he thought. The next day he'd look in neighborhoods maybe, but when his feet were aching and the sun was going down he settled as hidden as he could be in an alleyway and put his extra jacket on. This wasn't quite what he expected.  
In a way it was alright though. He was away from it all- had been almost all day. It was nice. He was a little cold as is and sleeping outside in an unfamiliar area had an eeriness about it that made him want to cry, but he was alone like he wanted. Completely.

It didn't look like it was going to rain at least.

The first week was long. Barry walked around the area in endless loops until finally finding a place to settle. His feet hurt and he resisted food until his stomach ached, then repeated the process. A lot of time was spent in the condo - complete with water damage from leaks - with his notebook, covering every inch of the pages in doodles.

Halfway through his second week, Barry had to move. Honestly it was surprising that he made it that long before fearing he'd be found. Barry knew better than to stay in one place. Even not living with Joe for very long, he had still been friends with Iris for as long as he can remember, and there was a certain amount of common sense that tells one not to do what convicted criminals or victims in horror movies did. Staying in one place never worked. He spent most of a day walking around for another hiding place. It didn't work out so easily, but he did find a blanket and by nightfall he settled deep in an alleyway with some trash to prop it up like a tent that smelled similar to rotting fruit.

Barry recreated his damp tent every night with new smells to accompany it. He didn't feel so bad about not bathing, seeing as his body odor couldn't be as disgusting as his surroundings might be.  
Barry imagined he'd get food easier if he were a good liar, but he was as far from that as possible.

Week three, he's tired, dehydrated, and starving. Barry isn't very sneaky though so when he takes a box of granola bars, he gets caught shoving it in his backpack and sprints down the street. He probably keeps going longer than necessary. Still, he got away with it, and next time he'll try to do a better job of making sure the coast in clear before he grabs anything.

One month in, Barry is still figuring some things out. For the most part he's avoided people, unsure who was ok to talk to, who was going to figure him out and take him to a police station. And anyway he wasn't sure what he'd say in the first place. Barry wasn't the best at making friends while in school and there he was surrounded by peers. One day though he's approached by someone a few years over himself, and most likely stoned. As uncomfortable as he makes him, they talk about nothing for ten minutes and it's worth it. Barry's missed people.

Two months, and he finds that drunk or high teenagers are the best to get contact from. They wont notice anything strange about him and they wont care if they do. So Barry starts wandering a little more at night and a little less during the day.

Six months in, Barry turns twelve. He doesn't have any way of keeping time, so he doesn't even find out until he's by the magazine stand and catches the date. On one hand, he wanted to cry over it. He's been gone half a year and nothing changed. He didn't expect anything grand to happen though. On the other hand, he'd made it on his own for six months. How many kids his age couldn't even make their own lunch?  
The look on his face must have shown something, because a man spoke up.

"You alright there, kid?" Barry looked up at him and his oh so bored face. Neutral. Entirely neutral. His posture, his expression, his tone. It was creepy.  
Barry shrugged a little, unsure of how to answer.  
"That's not an answer." The stranger continued, pulling out a few dollar bills for the man in the booth and taking a newspaper. "What's got you down?"  
Barry picked at a hangnail, fidgeting under the man's gaze now that they were facing each other. "I- it's my birthday.. and.." How did he explain this properly, exactly? He wasn't about to tell anyone up front he was a runaway, that he was orphaned anyway, that he couldn't keep track of time. They'd take him to the police station and send him home.  
"What? Someone forget?" The man slid his hands into his pockets, paper tucked under his arm.  
"I.. I did. A-and I just saw the day there."

There was a pause. He wasn't quite sure what to make of it, but when the stranger spoke again he was somehow gentler. "No calendars at home?" Barry shook his head. "Computers? Phones? School?" He shook his head again, his eyes drifting to the concrete as if he were in trouble.  
Another pause.  
"You got parents, kid?"  
His mouth opened a closed a few times before answering. "I have a foster dad." The truth was tricky, he's figured out. Too much information was suspicious, as was too little. He opted to not talk about home when it was an option. Sometimes someone asked, but he'd simply say his parents were busy right now. This was a different question, for starters. For another, the man carried a feel of authority and it put Barry on edge.

"That's all? Alright then... When's the last time you ate?" He'd wonder why that mattered if he didn't know he was getting even skinnier than he used to be.  
"Yesterday." He lied. Two days ago. He wasn't about to paint Joe as an abusive parent though.  
"And when did you really eat?"  
Barry had a feeling he meant a real meal, not a few granola bars, but that's what he had. "Two days." He said hesitantly, looking up at the stranger again.  
"Right." The man shuffled his feet briefly, jaw clenching. He glanced off like he was looking for someone before turning his eyes back to Barry. "If I swear to you I'm not a pedophile will you let me buy you lunch?"

Promising you're not a criminal doesn't stop you from being one, so that didn't really make a difference, and Barry said as much. The man laughed and nodded. "I guess that's true." Still, Barry walked with him into a burger joint for lunch.

Apparently the man's name was Leonard, and as he put it, he had empathy for how the situation seemed. Barry knew the difference between empathy and sympathy; the simplest way to put it was that sympathy was when people said they felt bad and proceeded to brush over your problems - _it could be worse, someone has a harder time than you, on the bright side-fill in the blank here_ \- while empathy on the other hand wasn't meant to belittle your feelings, it was just feeling bad for your situation, putting themselves in your shoes and acknowledging how much it sucks. Barry is fairly certain that Leonard is thinking of a different situation than what it is, but he appreciates it just as much as the burger he stuffs his face with.

They went their separate ways after that. They chatted, ate, and then Leonard had some place to be and Barry didn't mind being left on the sidewalk.

A month later, Barry sees Leonard again. The time went by just as it had been- running, walking, drawing, looting supplies from trashcans to make his sleeping arrangements better still. When he sees Leonard it's first with a girl by his side, and Barry panicked, irrationally thinking Leonard was telling people about some orphan kid running around on the streets starving. Soon enough they'd take him to a police station or doctors office and he'd be sent back to Joe.  
They spotted him with every intention of running, but Leonard was surprised, and the girl looked beyond confused when he waved at the skinny kid.

Barry was stopped in his tracks. Leonard looked at him for a long moment before glancing at the girl and back to Barry. The two started towards him and his heart hammered in his chest. They both seemed aware of this fact. "Hey, kid." Barry stared silently. "You spook easy, don't you?" Leonard asked as they stopped in front of him.  
"Lenny, who's this?" The girl asked.  
"This is Barry. Barry, this is my sister Lisa." Barry nodded, holding out his hand after a pause, and Lisa smiled politely and shook it. He had a feeling she was more confused than she wanted to seem.

"Barry seems to have a habit of hanging out around here, instead of with his foster father."  
There was a distinct pause, and a lurch of guilt in Barry's stomach as Lisa processed the information.  
"He could use some meat on his bones." Lisa said thoughtfully.  
And that is how he wound up letting Leonard buy him lunch once again, this time with Lisa keeping the conversation much more upbeat. Leonard wasn't rude or anything, a little sarcastic, but he wasn't... Positive? He looked like much more of a fighter than a lover, to put it simply. Lisa was nice. She also had Leonard wrapped around her little finger. Barry knows without even thinking about it because Iris had both him and Joe around hers.

The three of them sat around for almost an hour after they all had finished eating. Barry got to go back to his hideaway saying that he honestly had a good day. He used to have more of those, but the count is starting to go back up again as he adjusts to his lifestyle. That day helped.

Nine months in, Barry is one damn good pickpocket. He still wasn't very coordinated, but he was good as swiping what he needed and he was faster than he used to be. He also ran out of breath easier, despite being used to the exercise, but he didn't have regular meals anymore so that was to be expected. All things considered, Barry could be doing worse. It wasn't a good life, and he was pretty miserable half of the time, but he was making it.

Even though Barry had, by then, moved to almost the opposite side of the city, Len found him once again. And again it was a complete accident.  
Sirens always set him off. Everything he could shove in his backpack in a few seconds was stuffed in there and then he booked it. This time his little alleyway home worked as an escape route for both him and Len. He didn't recognize the man nearly knocking him over when he came sprinting through, but the two were silent was they started beside each other down the side walk when it was reached. When they were a block away Barry looked up, blinked, and nearly tripped over his own feet.  
Len huffed a noise of disbelief when he looked at Barry.

"The hell are you doing here, kid?!" He snapped in a hushed voice, breathy from running with whatever was in the bag on his back.  
"Heard sirens." Barry said simply. As it turns out, most people don't question short answers. Not out loud anyway.  
"So you followed the guy running from them?!"  
"What? No! I was running anyway!"  
"You just regularly run from the cops?" Leonard asked incredulously. "In the _middle of the night_?"  
"Any time of day."

The next thing he knew, Barry was being grabbed by the arm and tugged into a seemingly random building.  
Leonard had no sympathy in that moment. They seemed to be safe from the police, but the angered look Barry received was chilling. He feels bad for anyone that gets on Leonard's bad side.  


"You're going to tell me right now what is going on." He snapped. "There is no reason for you to be on the _other side of the city_ and running from the cops."  
Barry didn't reply, instead looking down at his shoes and clenching his fists.  
"What, you thought you could make it on your own and hopped on a bus? You take what you can get kid and go home before something bad happens to you." _Something worse than what's back there._

Barry shot a look up at him and pursed his lips. No one had suspected a thing, Leonard included, and here was Barry being told he couldn't handle himself. He handled himself alone from the moment his mother was murdered.  
"I've been on my own for nine months!" he spat. " _Nine_." Leonard's face fell then, soon shifting into a thoughtful expression that sort of worried Barry.

Two days later Barry felt sort of like an adopted puppy, but he didn't really mind since it meant a shower and bed and real food.  
While they waited for the commotion to die down outside, they talked. Barry explained the situation back with Joe and how he's done on his own this far, and Leonard listened patiently. He told Barry more vaguely that he wished he could have run away from his father, that he never could though because of Lisa, how his criminal career started because of their son of a bitch dad. No details were given aside from the story of one of his first robberies - a story that Barry thought was both impressive and a little worrying - but he got the impression that this much was a lot for Leonard to talk about. It all kept them busy for a few hours.

When it was finally time for Leonard to go, despite it being his idea, he very bitterly told Barry to come with him. While he hadn't risked trusting a stranger yet and had no intention to do so, Leonard didn't really feel much like a stranger.

When he meets Mick Rory - Leonard's best friend and criminal partner - he just walks into the little apartment, looks at the boy sitting criss-cross on the couch, and asked Leonard what the fuck he got himself mixed up in. Barry smiled and nodded when Leonard called him a stray despite being a little insulted. As it turns out, Mick was most always around even though he rarely slept in the apartment and he was nicer to Barry than Leonard was half of the time.  
He didn't talk down to him as much at least. Barry wonders how Leonard could be so bad with kids when he practically raised Lisa. He says as much and Mick laughs while Leonard glares halfheartedly.

Ten months in, Barry asks where Lisa is when he finds out that their father is in prison. Apparently Leonard's detailed scheming included numerous ways for Lisa to be safe and uninvolved in his heists so that she wont be hunted by the police too.

One year in, Barry is used to living with Len, Mick, and Lisa. They move around a bit but not as much as they would when the crime game is stepped up a notch, according to Len. Barry didn't mind. He also thought it was rather funny that there was a sort of 'fend for yourself' vibe about living there despite how Len took him in off the streets.

Barry isn't allowed to be involved in anything crime related. Logically, he understands why. But emotionally, he wants to be a part of things and to earn his keep, and if that's how Len makes money to support himself and his sister and Barry, well then Barry wants to help him. Still, he never wins that argument and neither does Lisa.

Barry slowly builds a collection of books. Half of them are gifts but he's never sure who is giving them and he thinks that it's deliberate because none of the three are explicitly affectionate towards each other, let alone him. He doesn't question it anymore anyway. The gifts alone mean plenty and Barry, unlike the family of crooks, has no problem saying just how grateful he is. Even Lisa rolls her eyes.  
Barry gets to keep studying though, which is incredibly nice in his opinion. He always was a classic nerd, especially in science. Sitting around all day with nothing but his notebooks was twice as boring in safe houses as it was on the street, because back then he could at least walk around wherever and whenever he wanted. His complaints were eventually listened to though. Once he was comfortable enough to actually complain out loud, that is.

Given the situation, and how there was absolutely no obligation for Len to have taken Barry in, it took some time before he stopped fearing that it would all be taken away. Mick and Len picked up on it in a week. Len was still not good at confrontation that wasn't fueled by anger, but Mick wasn't too bad at it. Awkward, but not bad. Neither of those two were good with feelings, obviously, but Barry understood well enough that though experiences like what they've been through did that to people.

One and a half years in, Barry turns thirteen. Len doesn't remember the exact date that he met the kid on such a day one year prior, and Barry expects as much because really, who would. He did however remember the exact look he had on his face apparently, and when he sees it again it clicks.  
The thing about living with the Snarts is that while no one is good with feelings, they all learn each other's tells, and Barry is no exception to this. He knows what Lisa looks like when she's lying no matter how good she is at it, and the slight change in her tone when she's talking to Len, and when she's upset he knows the little cues that let him know if he should press the issue or let it be. He knows what Mick looks and sounds like when there's something below the surface - a different change for each building mood - wether he's trying to hide it or not. He knows the same about Len. He also knows why all of them respectively have trouble sleeping more often than not.

Barry's birthday is celebrated at eleven at night, because he managed to keep to himself without drawing more than a few confused looks all day. Until five minutes to eleven, when he was lying awake on the couch realizing how much time had passed and the memories of what he's left and what happened that one night catch up to him. Lisa scolded him for not bringing up the day and even Mick said something about it. Len sticks a match in a left over store-bought brownie and makes Barry blow it out and eat every bite even if it is a little stale.  
He appreciates the gesture more than he expresses verbally.

Three years in, Barry is coming up on fifteen. His impressive book collection, by now, has to be sorted through since he can no longer bring it with him from house to house and Len says not to leave something with his fingerprints at every home. Smart, really. Barry filled his notebooks with the most important information just in case he needs reminders, and then he sells all but five books at a little book store. Luckily, not being a wanted criminal has its perks, like being able to go outside and not be chased so long aa he has the burner phone Len gave him.

Len and Mick also have this freedom every once and a while, because while their faces are known in Central City, the rest of the world isn't remotely as cautious of them, and in between jobs no one really expects to see them on the streets anyway. Twice now after heists the safe house has been outside of city limits. Lisa pointed out to Barry that he didn't really need to go that far with them, since he wasn't the one being chased and he can surely manage a few weeks or so on his own. Barry preferred sticking with them, and seeing things outside of this one city was more interesting than sitting around all day, as he put it. Besides, Lisa wasn't even supposed to be living with them yet and still did so as often as possible, so who was she to talk.

Len and Mick are in prison for Barry's fifteenth birthday.  
He doesn't particularly care that they missed the day, just that they were caught at all. Worse is that he knew it might happen. He wasn't blind to the possibility at any point, but Len made sure to sit him and Lisa down previously and go over what to do should he and - or - Mick be arrested. He had quite a bit of confidence that the sentence didn't matter in regards to how long he'd be behind bars. Barry had a fit then and he had one again when he saw the news.

One month later, Barry receives a call from prison in which Len gives him a place to be the next day. Barry talks about how stupid this concept is for hours to Lisa, who loses interested after ten minutes wether she agrees or not. The next day, they go to the meeting place and are swept away out of town by none other than Len and Mick.  
Barry doesn't question them half as much anymore.

Four years in, Barry and Lisa don't wait for Len's permission to start stealing on their own. They make a good team, pull of three small jobs before Mick catches on. He's a fairly protective person, simply because he was loyal to a fault, but he doesn't try to stop them. Instead he gives them a few tips and covers for them with Len whenever he thinks he might need to. It was considerate in Barry's opinion.

He's never been entirely sure of what the dynamic in the group was. Len seemed to see Lisa as sort of both a sister and a daughter, given their past, but otherwise it was all up in the air. He knows that Lisa saw all three of them as her brothers, but Barry really isn't sure about Len and Mick; how they see each other or how they see him. He feels like he's just spending a vacation at a friend's house all of the time. They might be a family, but Barry was just a tag along and he was ok with that.

Len was, however, the most responsible out of the bunch and the worst worrier next to Barry. So when he finds out that his little sister and Barry were putting together break-ins in the various neighborhoods in the area, he is less than pleased.  
Len says that the lockdown he puts them under is practice for when they inevitably get themselves arrested.

Five years in, Barry starts taking online classes under a fake name. He doesn't have any of his old documentation like, say, a birth certificate or social security number, but most of Len's connections are long running and they get Barry a driver's license. It was good enough that should he need to use it no one would bad an eye. It were perfect, actually, aside from the fact that there was no record of a Barry Allen with his information beyond the age of eleven.

Time with the Snarts passes the same as it has this far, all of them growing and learning more about each other, Barry learning the ins and outs of the crime business, and everyone trying to work with each other's damaged minds.  
Time racks up. Six, seven, eight years goes by since he's left the West's. Barry steadily becomes a part of heists, and he and Len learn how to work difference sciences and technologies.  
Nine, ten, eleven. Barry get's another equally fake but accurate ID now that he's twenty-one. He wonders what else he would be doing with his life if he hadn't left home all those years ago. He doesn't regret it for one second, but he's been essentially on the run with Len and Mick since he was child, and he isn't sure that he wants that to be their lives forever.  
Twelve, thirteen. Len and Mick are letting their faces be more known, and they're starting to establish their presence in Central City as if they were a gang, scaring off the competition and leaving them in the dust. They keep Barry's face out of it. Mick says it's so that he can quit and live a normal life if he chooses.  
Fourteen. Barry is twenty-five, and he wonders what could have been, but also how things could be any better.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Update in the next few days I said. Well that turned out to be a lie.  
> I give you some filler scenes and background.

Barry is only vaguely aware of the sound of life around him; Mick looking through the fridge, Lisa approaching the couch where Barry is lounging with a laptop resting on his thighs. He's usually quite aware of his surroundings, as they all are, but when Barry is into something there is very little pulling him out of it until he's processed everything he wants to on the topic, even if he does try to shut his mind off and interact otherwise.

Lisa knelt on the floor, folding her arms on the couch arm and resting her chin there, looking at Barry with a bored expression that he knows very well. He tries not to pay direct attention to her, as is the game when he's reading and she's bored of the quiet. "Go bother Len."  
"Do not bother Len." Leonard said from his chair in the corner.  
Barry frowned. "Why do you get a free pass when reading? I read one article and I'm stared at the whole time until I put it down."  
"Take it up with her."

A few moments of peaceful quiet passed before Lisa actually spoke. "What is it today, Bear?" Regardless of how bored she already sounded just with _asking_ the question, Barry looked over his shoulder to her, glad to elaborate.  
"You remember last time I brought up S.T.A.R. Labs?"  
"Not really."  
"Well now they're only a few _months_ away from being able to turn on the particle accelerator." He beamed.  
"Which is?"  
"The name is kind of self explanatory." Barry chuckled lightly. "It's _revolutionary_ is what it is, it could change the world with how much it could teach us about the universe."

"Haven't you seen any sci-fi movies?" Mick chimed in, leaned on the countertop with a freshly made sandwich in hand. "When the world ends I'm blaming that thing."  
Barry rolled his eyes, turning his attention back to the article. He still didn't understand how he could be in a home full of smart people and be the only one interested in things like this- _new_ things, real things, _advancements_ in the world. At least Len seemed to keep up with the events. Len had an interesting mind though, and he was pretty abnormal himself. Leave it to him to keep up with Barry's thought process, successfully proving to Lisa that they were both just weird. Mick on the other hand didn't understand some of the topics they found interest in but he also didn't make fun of them for it outside of side comments. When Barry first met him he expected the man to be meaner. Back then though Barry was twelve and Mick _was_ meaner than he is now.

Barry almost took pride in knowing what he does about the three. Fourteen years with them and he'd better know them pretty well. The thing about the Snarts - and Mick - and the thing that Barry's adopted into himself is that no one would ever really know what they were feeling. Poker faces and lies were trained just as much as everything else they've all learned over the years, and not entirely intentional.  
Len had to raise his baby sister, being abused by their father, and forced into a life of crime to stay out of trouble at home. Lisa watched it all, had to figure everything out on her own when Len moved out, adopted his defenses wether it was because of their father or that soccer player after she told him she just wanted someone her brother thought was good for her and he lost it. A fire took Mick's home and his family, essentially left to fend for himself until winding up with Leonard in his life. And Barry saw his mother's murder, saw his father taken away for it, lived on the street for a year only to be taken in by a couple of young cons in hiding. They weren't personal people.

He was once asked by the girlfriend of two weeks if they relied on each other at least, and Barry didn't have an answer. They had no one else, of course they relied on each other. Not always right away, not always willingly, but who else would ask? It took confrontation, sometimes several, and a lot of time before they opened up. It wasn't in their nature- any of them anymore. Len's rules, Barry discovered, were that you take care of yourself first and foremost, because no one else will and no one else can fix your problems, and you take care of the ones you love. Good rules, he thinks, but not ones you can tell the girl with a normal life and functioning family. That relationship didn't last long anyway.

Barry hasn't had many, all in all. By the time he was in his teen years things were already so different for him, it wasn't much of an option even if it wasn't his ass on the line when a job came around. There was too much going on; he was learning to live the way that they did and that included no lasting relationships. Not with anyone you weren't prepared to live with on the run.  
It also included quite a bit of trust issues. Barry still wonders if he's as bad as the other three in that regard, because they insist that he's not but he has his doubts. Barry liked to see the better in people where he could. Always had, probably always will. He didn't grow out of it just because he was living with some less than positive people. He did however learn to watch his back, and silver linings could come second.

What was truly curious, was how this group of four could live together off and on for years, and still couldn't agree on bread. Barry supposed it was side effect of their housing situations- Lisa lived on her own, occasionally spending the night and often a few hours of her day at Len's. Mick would stick around for a month or so, give or take a few weeks, and then be off who knows where for just as long. Sometimes Barry went with him, but he was generally grounded at Len's side. Or, his current home anyway. Living with Len meant a lot of alone time too, just in that they could go days with little interaction, simply existing in the same space. It also meant that when Len was busy with other things and other people, Barry was left to his own devices with little warning.  
Not that he really had a problem with it. He was used to it, that was for sure. Either way he hardly felt lonely. Even if they hadn't spoken for the majority of the day because one - or both - of them was dialed in on something else, there was a comfort to just being around another person- a person he trusted. In that aspect, it wasn't too different living with Mick either. Except Barry favored Mick's bread choice, but if he lets them know that now then it would start another argument because the votes were no longer evenly split.

Barry tends to do the shopping by himself. He only ever went with Mick and Len once and it was a very business-like kind of shopping due to the situation they were in at that moment. Other than that it was Barry's job, occasionally Lisa's when she was with them but she usually passed it off to him. He has this idea in his head about trying to casually shop with the three and how strange they'd look.  
Honestly, Barry can't help but think about normal things with them. Their lives were so _abnormal_ , a lot of his time as a teenager was spent dreaming about other lives they could all lead. Ones where everyone was safe and his _angst_ would be over mundane things like being dumped or trouble on a sports team, Lisa wouldn't be afraid to show emotion when growing up in a stable home, maybe Len wouldn't have had to raise her or maybe he took her and left and went to college to use that big brain of his for a normal career like...An engineer or architect. Mick would...Well Barry couldn't see Mick as a very normal person no matter what. He didn't blend in as well as the others, but then, he also never seemed to try. He just _was_ while the other three could act and lie, Mick was just Mick, nodding along to whatever story was needed as a cover. Barry liked that about him.

Lightening the topic up, Barry daydreamed about him being a firefighter. Ironic, or perhaps clever in a hide in plain sight sort of way. He told Mick once about these dreams, back when he was sixteen or seventeen and it was most present in his mind.  
Barry can't remember if he had been in one of his brooding moods or if it was just a day dream that time but it happened and Mick was sat beside him, asking what he was thinking about and Barry told him about another life they could have all lived if things weren't so bad in their childhoods. Mick had chuckled, and eventually laughed when Barry was insulted. In his defense, it wasn't as serious of a topic as the teenager thought it was. Barry still has a habit of taking the wrong things seriously though, on occasion at least.

He's accepted that this is just how things are now. Right or not, they couldn't change the hands they were dealt. All in all it's a pretty good hand anyway. The part of his daydreams that Barry often left out was his own, because without his exact struggle he wouldn't have Lisa and Len and Mick in the first place.  
Lisa was right, he really was the sappiest of the group. He keeps that part to himself.

[...]

"Sure you want to go?" Len asks as he stacks his the printed information for his plan in order and Barry zips up his backpack.  
"Yeah, why not?" What else was he going to do anyway? Mick would be in the same area soon enough and even if Lisa didn't move around like they did for the past few years now since getting her own place, she and Barry didn't make half as good of roommates as they did friends or partners in crime. Besides, it's not like this is his first time in the area. They already know that Joe has still been in the same place, working for the CCPD all these years- and hell, Barry has probably had coffee in the same shop he does without even knowing it. It's not a sensitive topic anymore. Len remembers everything though, including things that used to make a person upset years ago. He's a paranoid man, to say the least, but that hasn't proven a bad thing yet.

"Just making sure." Len leaves it there. A few years ago he would have pointed out how old Barry was, that he doesn't have to stick to this life with these people if he doesn't want to. He could do like Lisa does and be involved at a bit of a distance, get himself an apartment and a regular job. He doesn't point that out anymore.

The apartment they move to is cheap and lets them pay with cash. The building was generally cleaner than expected though given that it always smelled vaguely of cat litter. Then again Barry had yet to see or hear any cats.  
Bags dropped in the bedroom, Barry opted to hurry along to the store. This brings him back to the bread debate, because while groceries are basic he has to consider who all might be staying at the apartment as well. It was only one bedroom, but with two beds and a pull-out sofa at least three if not all four of them could fit. It wouldn't be the first time they fought over who had to share the couch.

The thing about growing up with criminals is that it doesn't matter if your face is attached to the crimes, if you're involved at all or completely innocent, you will adopt the mannerisms. _Grocery shopping_ and Barry is looking over his shoulder with the same well-masked paranoia that Leonard carries. He notices a lot more than he would otherwise because of this. He's more assured of his safety when he's alone in public, if only because it's easier to escape with one person than several. Regardless of the conscious knowledge that no one would be looking for _him_ but rather than who he was with.

Alone, Barry catches lingering glimpses of people he passes while shopping. His guard isn't up though, not without prompting, and when he eventually knocks something off the shelf due to his lack of coordination, he talks to the man who saves one of the fallen spice bottles from being stepped on by a frumpy man who clearly did not care what was going on around him.  
"I think they're trying to run away from me." he chuckled a little as he fumbled with the other five he was picking up off the floor. He didn't even need spices, those were things that someone could bring from place to place, but they were low on-- whatever Mick had texted him.  
"Don't worry about it." He didn't even have to look at the man to hear the smile in his voice.

Barry had to pause in his re-stacking of little plastic bottles when he glanced to the stranger, just for a second before carrying on with pursed lips. A true movie moment would have to be a handsome stranger helping him clean up the mess from his own clumsiness. "Thank you, by the way. I would not have enjoyed trying to clean up actually spilled spices off the floor." He covered his hesitation by adding.  
"Do you always have this bad of coordination?" The blonde asked jokingly.  
"Not always." Barry said, giving him one last lingering smile. Before he can turn away the stranger holds out a hand and continues.  
"Eddie."

Eddie Thawne, to be exact. A young man just moved to central city, soon starting at the CCPD. Barry wishes he wasn't talking to a soon-to-be cop, because Eddie is incredibly nice. A little cocky, but nice and had a sparkling smile. A charmer, that was for sure.  
"So where are you from?" He asks at one point and Barry answers honestly.  
"Here, but I haven't been back since I was a kid."  
"Yeah?" He even tilts his head slightly in his curiosity. "Where'd you go?"  
"A lot of places." Barry shrugged. "Never too far out though. Unfortunately I'm still not a worldly traveler." He jokes.

Having coffee with a detective probably wasn't Barry's safest course of action. He couldn't give Eddie any way to contact him again, any idea where in the entire city he lives other than in possible walking distance from that one store. This conversation alone was a one-time deal. Honestly Barry isn't sure what he'd do with that smile on a regular basis anyway. How Eddie would make it to detective was a mystery, because he seemed far too innocent. Not naive, Barry can't gage that with a conversation like this, but innocent in the sense that he couldn't have seen many bad things in his life. Not truly bad things. Not really.  
Even as a friend, Eddie wouldn't know what to do with someone like Barry.


	3. Chapter 3

The thing about working with your family is that it was both obnoxious and easy at the same time. They say not to start a business with people you know, mostly because if things go south the blame and tension would be messy. Also because no one ever really likes their boss and keeping each other in line like one is a pain that could also start more arguing. This is a family with one particular family business though, and they have very little choice. Barry has been in, heard about, and witnessed many arguments over the years, usually starting with a job.  
He'd like to say that Mick and Len fight the most, but he's not sure if that's entirely true. They certainly have an interesting story together, but neither Barry nor Lisa were exactly well behaved or good at watching their mouths either.

A lot of the time, Barry handles the tech. Len was better with weapons and pretty tech savvy himself, but Barry's skill was in the computers and the two of them were known for quick and silent work. He takes down the security system before they pull a job, as is routine, and the two slip inside. From there it's fun and games- some buildings take extra measures to make sure not just anyone can shut down the system, but a lot don't and they know to check for such a thing during the planning. This house - mansion, almost - and this job aren’t so fancy, meaning no careful ‘get in get out, don’t make a sound’ sort of work has to be done. The owners are out of town for the night, so the thieves enjoy themselves, looking around and filling burlap sacks with loot, making wisecracks back and forth.  
Work was fun when there wasn't too much pressure- Barry says that but in all honesty he likes it for the same reason Len does; the thrill of it. The chase, the adrenaline, it's a blast and they don't even need the money anymore. Len and Mick had already started on their own before finding Barry, and since then they've continued traveling around the country pulling simple and complex jobs, only getting better over the years.

When the four of them enter a building it's like ants scattering; they all know what to grab, what to ignore, who does what. They had their places on the team. This time it’s just Barry and Len. It’s not the target for their time in Central City, but it’s sort of on the way and a good warm up. Besides, even with buyers on standby it can take some time to sell what they steal without police being alerted.

They take from a jewelry store owner. According to Len and Barry's collaborative surveillance, the husband is the owner of the business and tends to bring shipments to the house until the next work day.  
And people think Barry is naive...

He looks around the room while Len carefully rummages for what they came for. The best job left no trace, after all. Everything is set back exactly where it was, latex gloves preventing fingerprints, not even a hair is left behind. Barry looks over the dresser. Jewelry lazily set atop of it, a large mirror on the wall above, a sock drawer not shut all the way, a couple different watches and sets of cufflinks on the other side. Barry likes taking his time. Considering that they'd still be out in less than ten minutes he wasn't exactly dragging his feet anyway, but there was a difference in getting to look around and taking in as much as possible while racing for the target goods.

"Alright, let's go." Len, always the manager of time, makes sure they're in and out as quickly as possible even when there isn't anyone to walk in and catch them. Barry used to wonder if he had some sort of advanced hearing since it was hard to catch him looking at his watch, and yet he always knew how much time they had left. Surely that meant he could hear the ticking. He explained this to Mick and Lisa, and Mick said Len was a vampire with advanced senses like they're probably supposed to have.

Barry marches out beside Len. He turns back on the power to the house and the security system at the back, and then they're gone.

"Is there a reason you stole the man's cuff links?" Len asks, side-eyeing him briefly before turning his attention back to the road. Barry shrugs.  
"You never know."  
"No dates I'm not aware of?"  
He snorts. "Yeah, sure. Because _I'm_ the bachelor type?" He jokes, turning his head towards Len in time to catch the slight, amused upturn of his lips. "They're silver, I like 'em."

"You don't own a suit, but alright."  
Barry rolls his eyes. He, like Lisa, could be a sucker for shiny things sometimes. His weak spot was silver though, rather than gold and diamonds. Sleek, simple, clean silver. He wasn't really picky though, it's not like he accessorized anyway. Sweaters and T-shirts and a couple different jackets, his closet was simple. Various identical pairs of dark jeans, one pair of boots and one set of converse and his 'look' was complete. He should really get a watch though, but he likes the nice ones that probably wouldn't fit with the rest of his attire. Unlike Len, Barry's natural taste didn't double as both casual and classy.

They fell into an easy silence. It only lasts a few minutes though before Barry breaks it.  
"Do you know where Mick went?"  
"Nope." He never does. "Never do." Of course. With how close the two seem to be, despite all of their bickering, Barry wonders why Mick comes and goes like he's done all these years. The first few he didn't leave like this, but at some point he just left. Barry asked and asked and asked the first several times but Len didn't know nor did he seem to care. At least, not on the surface.

When they get back to the safe house, the loot is hidden within the walls of the kitchen, behind the fridge. It's a little excessive, maybe, but they had some waiting to do before they could actually sell any of it.

It's still fairly early in the evening when they got back. Early enough that they both spent quite a bit of time with their respective hobbies; Barry sat on the couch reading and Len at the table with plans and notes scattered everywhere. There's plenty of time before they go for the real thing, and very little if anything left to do with those plans until they get into the building during the day for a look around, but there he sits. Barry pays no mind to the habit. Len was a worrier as well as a thinker. It's fitting that he reviews as often as he does.  
Interesting how Len carries some alpha male characteristics and yet is the biggest _mother hen_ Barry has ever met. Probably a side effect of raising his sister.

[...]

"Married?"  
"Yes."  
"He have a ring or are you guessing?"  
"Ring. He's pretty obvious anyway, one of those guys that calls her a ball and chain." Barry snorts. He catches Lisa rolling her eyes in his peripheral vision. One of the perks to living like a cautious crook on the run was how aware of his surroundings he's become, how to read people. Lisa and he turned it into a game years ago, first calling it practice like working with flash cards, now just amused to make fun of strangers. They sit in a coffee shop today, observing the other customers from a table in the corner.  
"Used to be real good looking in college or high school but drinking with his buddies every weekend and working overtime is starting to give him a beer belly." Barry continues and Lisa makes a little sound of amusement.

Suddenly he has to pause, as in walks a familiar face. A grin spreads over Barry's face and he taps Lisa's shoulder. "What about him?" He asks with a nod ahead, eyes locked on his target.  
"Blondie? New job. He's too energetic for this early in the morning, suit says he's a business man, but probably not quite.. Law enforcement maybe? Pretty confident for someone behind a desk, too perky for accounting or law, any of that."

Silence settles over them as he gets to the front of the line. "His eyes aren't dead, can't be a salesman." Barry snickers at her description. "True and you know it."  
"Yeah, yeah, true."  
"You know him?" He can hear in her voice that she already knows the answer.  
"Met him at the grocery store about a week ago, got coffee after."  
"Aww-"  
Barry laughs softly, shaking his head. "Don't even bother, he's a detective."  
Glancing over to her, he catches Lisa starting to pout, leant forward on her forearms on the table. With a dramatic sigh, he joins in and mimics her.

"There's always sleeping with the enemy." She teases. Barry chuckles and nods, about to reply when he glances in Eddie's direction and he's caught. Purposefully maintaining his smile he lifts a hand off the table in a casual wave. Beside him Lisa is still.  
"I was joking, Barry."  
"I know, he spotted me anyway."  
Lisa was always more weary of the cops. Barry can see her shifting from genuine ease and happiness to a facade of the same thing, posture just lightly different, the gleam in her eyes dulled. It's subtle, incredibly so, and he probably only notices because he's known her for so long, but he sees it. By the time Barry looks towards the counter again Eddie is headed their way.

"Hey, Barry right?"  
He nods. "Eddie?"  
"Yeah." He practically radiates good vibes. Barry would like to keep him around for that at least, but it still wouldn't be smart to do so. They might have to find another coffee shop in Central. This place was fantastic though..  
"His girlfriend, Lisa." She says, holding out her hand. Everything about her is a little sharper in his presence, from how she moves to the sound of her voice.  
"Protective step-sister." Barry amends. Eddie laughs lightly and nods, taking her hand politely.  
"It's nice to meet you Lisa. I promise I'm not after Barry's heart."  
"Hey, just cause she doesn't want you to chase me doesn't mean I don't." He jokes. Eddie snorts and chuckles, a paint blush tinting his cheeks. Barry's are a little more red than that. "Done joking, I swear. How's it going?"

"Pretty good, thanks." Eddie answers, amusement still in his voice and a smile still on his face. "I actually have to get going, first day at the CCPD, but I'll see you around?"  
"Yeah definitely. Good luck." Barry replies, adamantly ignoring how unhappy Lisa probably is about his friendliness towards the guy. Rather than comment though, she stays quiet until Eddie is out the door and only then turns to look at Barry again. As she slides out her seat, empty coffee cup in hand, she whispers, "I'm telling Len."

"...Not if I beat you there."


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -squints at screen- okay but I have edited it enough...

Leonard, Mick, and Lisa alike all agree that Barry has been above shoplifting for years now. He knew that as far as skill level went, they were right. But he also knew that that didn't stop Len from lifting wallets regularly, so why should it stop Barry?  
It's not like he sets out to do it anyway, he just sees something that can fit in his bag that he might want and he takes it. Honestly though he wonders if he's developed some level of kleptomania. At least when Len steals things day to day it's watches or wallets or jewelry. Barry just grabs whatever catches his eye at that moment.

In his defense, it was part of his training to do exactly that. Early into his time with the Snarts they'd all go out and point out things for Barry to grab, challenging him in pocket picking and shop lifting.

Nowadays he just has fun with it for... Whatever reason. Simple pleasures keep the spirit up, right?  
Except for the few times he's been caught, at which point he runs, and aside from one of the first times he tried that, he gets away. Barry knew how to use his long limbs to his advantage at least. He's fairly certain that makes up for his clumsiness when he isn't focusing on being just the opposite of that.

Of all of the times to be caught though, it's over something he doesn't really want. Just like that first time, actually. And, just like fate would have it, Eddie Thawne has to be nearby.  
Barry flings the little trinquet behind him aimlessly with a flick of his wrist as he turns around to face the store owner approaching him about sliding something in his pocket. It goes over as well as it can, ending with Barry holding up his arms and inviting the man to pat him down. Something on a shelf behind them falls then, making Barry's shoulders tense with the sudden sound, and then Eddie is apologizing for knocking it over. Somehow, a detective has saved Barry from further questions about shoplifting.

Barry is still gawking a little when he leaves the store with Eddie not far behind.  
"Want to tell me what that was about?" Eddie asks lightly, chuckling a little with that bright smile of his aimed at Barry. Even when not as wide, not absolutely beaming, it was contagious.  
"Just a misunderstanding." Barry tries, trying not to laugh. The look Eddie fixes him with might break his resolve, but he lets it go.  
"Well- hey would you want to get coffee maybe?"  
Barry nods. "Coffee it is."

Coffee turned into makeshift lunch with pastries at Jitters. They talk mostly about Eddie. Barry asks him about work and some of the people he's heard Eddie mention before, easy things that he can chime in on without revealing much at all about himself. Crooks were tricky. With the good ones at least half of the communication and work was done through tricks and code. If Barry was being friends with a detective he was going to use his wits about it.

Over an hour passes talking like this and he has to admit that he enjoyed himself anyway.  
He even smiles when Eddie asks "so earlier in the store..."  
"Yeah, okay I might be kind of a kleptomaniac? I mean I've never been to a therapist so it's not a diagnosis but you can probably find my picture in the dictionary." He says only half joking and not hiding it.

Eddie is still smiling but his brow furrows slightly. "That is something you can be diagnosed with though, Barry, isn't that serious?"  
Truthfully, he hadn't expected concern. "I mean- I guess it is. It's not like I have a need to steal or I go crazy but something's there and catches my eye chances are in it's my pocket before I think about it, but it's not like I don't know I'm doing it." He replies with a shrug. "It's no big deal, I just have a lot of random shit on my shelves for literally no reason."

Eddie seems to be concerned for Barry. He also seems to not know how to hide the sympathy on his face. Barry can't think anything other than that Eddie is ridiculous.

[...]

"You had coffee with a detective _again_?" Barry's shoulders drop. Leonard has never lost the ability to give off the _disappointed parent_ vibe, no matter how old Barry gets.  
"It's fine though!"  
"Is it? How many times now? Barry you're not undercover, there is nothing to gain from this and eventually he's going to see you with us and he'll know our faces if he's any good. You're putting _all of us_ at risk."

And he's right, Barry knows for a fact that he's right, but he wants to argue.  
The thing about Leonard is that he's so used to being in charge, and they all let it be that way because he's good at it and someone has to be a leader and it's not like there aren't discussions and votes on things. But that also means Leonard laying the ground rules makes him the parents for others to rebel against- for Lisa and Barry anyway. When Mick goes against Leonard it's always for a solid reason. Said reason might be hidden, but there always was one. With the younger two? Not always. Barry hates being aware of it, because that means he has to relent.

[...]

Mick was well aware of how the world worked; there was good and there was bad, and despite what they all say most people lean towards bad in one way or another. It's also all individual - someone who grew up rich and ignored by their family will think neglect is the worst thing in the world where someone else who's been practically smothered with attention will feel like people that try to control them are the worst things in the world and so on on various levels - and all relative - to some people violence was the worst thing, to some it was lying, to some it's only murder, some it's only murder of children, and so on and so on.  
Nothing is black and white. Good and bad were a scale, Mick thinks, and he doesn't fool himself about where he sits on it.

Still, even crooks like him have rules; kids don't get hurt or involved, judgement is saved for a person's actions, and work is done sober.

Fifteen years ago he walked into the current hideout he was sharing with Snart and found some kid sat on the couch. The kid's name was Barry and Snart took him in from the street. He knows how he feels about Lisa, how he has the same rules as Mick about kids not being hurt, but taking in some stray? That wasn't his style- neither of theirs. But it was Snart's business, and Mick wasn't going to honestly suggest kicking Barry out. He was twelve at best for fuck's sake.  
So, he didn't complain. The kid didn't stick his nose in their business when they said it was _business_ , for a while he didn't ask many questions at all. He was smart to be weary, even if he was safe with them. As he started to get comfortable though he opened up, got an attitude Mick approved of, and as he grew older he stayed a good kid. Too good, Mick thought. He questioned how he was going to continue to fit into their lives.

Neither Mick nor Leonard were good people. He's known from childhood that he was fucked up, something was wrong with him. Then conscious choices added to the mix and one thing lead to another and now he's a full fledged criminal. The fact that Barry is the first and only person who has ever, _honestly_ , not thought poorly of Mick for what he is, is..Strange.

He's done the runaway thing. He did it after he burnt down that asshole's house he went to school with. He knows now that it's fucked up. Hell he probably knew it back then too, but he couldn't think through it- pyromania defied logic sometimes. It came in waves; always there but usually shallow water, and then the water starts to pick up and usually it takes a tidal wave before it will calm. And that kid had something coming to him. Obviously Mick exaggerated the punishment, but he was a kid too and all he knew is that this guy was horrible and cold and fire would make him feel better. Then he ran. For the second time, he had burned down a house. Killed people. So yeah, he ran. He was homeless for a while, then landed in juvie, and then he found Snart.

He still doesn't know what he was thinking when saving the tiny little fourteen year old. But, it got him a partner for almost thirty years now. Hell it got him the closest thing to family he'll ever have. For all of the fights, Mick can't regret it.

He supposed it was fitting that he would end up liking Barry.

Besides, it was cute how thrilled he always was to see Mick back in town.

Typically when a job or a streak of them were done, that was Mick's cue to go his own way for a while. He likes going home, taking breaks from it. Leonard had enough to worry about with that energetic kid with him anyway, none the less if Lisa is still around, so Mick has learned to make things easier by going to his personal home base. No one ever comes looking there, but he isn't about to share it with anyone else even if it might be safer of a hiding spot than in Leonard's choices of hideouts. Besides, any time they were caught before it wasn't while they were hiding.

So Mick comes and goes some, and more when you factor in the arguments that make him and Leonard sick of each other. Eventually though Leonard needs his partner for a job, and he'll reach out and neither of them will address it. It's how they work things out. As close as they'll get, anyway.  
Barry wants them to talk instead. Even Lisa has taken his side on occasion on that one. Talking didn't work too great for them; Leonard talked _too_ much and was obviously bullshitting when he did that and Mick wasn't exactly good with his words, so _talking it out_ is mostly just listening to Leonard explain why he was right, pretending to see Mick's side of things, and Mick having to nod along while he wonders just how much of it he _doesn't_ mean this time around.

He won't tell that to Barry or Lisa though. They both already know Mick and Leonard alike can be assholes and they still stick around, so there's no need to get into it and hope more context doesn't change anyone's views on anyone. He supposed there had to be things about himself that drove Leonard insane too, but at least he doesn't feed Leonard's addiction and then get mad at him for giving into it. Then again Leonard didn't have an addiction, and he's never really gotten Mick's pyromania. He might just not get it. Most people don't. He deals with it.

[...]

"He's in the hospital."  
"...Who?" He asks not because he doesn't know but because he doesn't want to be right.  
" _Barry_ who do you think?" Hr knows that tone in Snart's voice, the bite driven by emotion instead of anger. "Lisa went with him to the hospital. No word yet."  
"I'm leaving now."

[...]

Barry wanted to see the particle accelerator turn on at S.T.A.R. Labs. Instead he was in the CCPD precinct. Now, Barry knew Leonard was right about Eddie. It was a risk. But if he could get something useful out of it then he could justify keeping company that he shouldn't enjoy as much as he did.  
He got a sort of tour of the place, though there wasn't much to show off, and Barry had planned on slipping into some files another night once he's learned where to look and how to get there.  
It's storming. From the labs upstairs they watch the accelerator turn on. Then they watch it explode. Rain is coming in through a sky light behind them and Barry thinks to grab the chain to close it while he and Eddie are backing away from the window. He pulls once and then it all goes black.

[...]

Mick arrives at Snart's place hours after their phone call. He watches the man pace around the living room with his phone in a tight grip and worry written all over his face. Mick sits on the couch and waits. They're both quiet as time ticks on. When Lisa calls she says that he keeps going into cardiac arrest, he's flatlined more than once. Barry was dying. Repeatedly. Mick puts his head in his hands, and Snart leans back on a wall, his eyes on the ceiling.

[...]

Mick knows how the world works, and the world is a bitch and karma isn't always fair.


	5. Chapter 5

"He liked her facebook page."  
"I think I would know if my brother had any secret music obsessions."  
"Alright, alright, no Gaga.."

Barry's eyes shoot open as air floods into his lungs with a gasp.  
Lisa is by his side in a heartbeat. She's followed though by two strangers who are shining lights in his eyes and asking questions and it's way too much too fast. Barry throws off the covers, swings his legs off the bed, and forces his way around the people to get space.

"Okay- _okay_ who the _hell_ are you people?!" He asks, wide eyes turning to Lisa a second later. "What's going on?"

"You're in S.T.A.R. La--"  
"No," He says quickly, cutting off the girl with the gentle tone like she was trying to calm down a dog. "I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to _Lisa_ because no offense, but I don't know you two and she is the only person in this room I'm going to listen to."  
Lisa looks a bit proud underneath her concern. "You were in a coma, Barry. For nine months."

His heart seems to stop. For a long moment he does nothing more than stare at her, shock evident in his expression, body stood as still as the dead. And then he remembers to breath again and takes in a long breath, nodding slowly. "What-- what uhh what happened?"  
Lisa places his hand on his arm, a gentle anchor as he process the information. "You were struck by lightening, and you.. Never woke up."  
He swallows thickly and nods again. "Okay. Okay why am I here though? Why S.T.A.R. Labs?"  
"You were flatlining at the hospital. A lot. But they showed up and said they had better equipment here so I said okay." She explains, nodding to the two still stood to the side, watching the conversation. Barry can't help but squint at them suspiciously.

"We.. Do still need to run some tests now that you're awake." The girl chimes in. 

[...]

The first thing Mick does the second Barry is through the door is take Barry's face in his hands and scan over him and into his eyes like he'd find some secret injury there that Lisa didn't already mention on the phone. When he's appeased he lets Barry hug him and he holds him _tight_ for the minute or so it lasts. Leonard was next, approaching with just as much worry on his face but only placing a hand on Barry's shoulder. He rolls his eyes and hugs the older man himself. "I've been asleep for nine months and you can't give me a hug?"

Leonard sighs dramatically despite how he returns the gesture and wraps his arms around him. " _Well_ you know me."  
Barry snorts.

"I made him stick around long enough to get his vitals and all that looked at. His health is in tip top shape." Lisa chimes.  
"Good."  
"Yeah but they still weren't happy we left." Barry adds.  
"They wanted him to wait for the guy who runs the place." Lisa explains, earning curious looks aimed at them both. Mick folds his arms and asks, "Ain't that the guy you _idolize_?"  
"Why not meet him?" Leonard finishes for him.  
Barry makes a face at that and shoves his hands in his pockets. "I wasn't even thinking, really. I just wanted to get back here to you guys."

He gets smiles in return.

"Have a seat! I'm cookin' lunch." Mick says, a warm smile still planted on his face and spread into his voice. Barry loves it when he's that genuinely happy.

They eat steaks and peas and chips. Barry is filled in on the _lack_ of crime the three have been taking part in- "It wasn't the same without you." Leonard explained, albeit a bit reluctantly. Even in this group, Leonard was a private person, not good with feelings. Neither were any of them really. He and Mick had the hardest time talking about it though. What he says means just as much as the fact that he's saying it at all, to Barry.  
Then he was told about people with powers showing up. No one had much information on that topic though, for all of the digging Leonard tried to do. After the night of the explosion there were City damages to be repaired, lives lost, and some freakish things happening around the city. There was no explanation though other than that everyone blamed the Labs for whatever change or loss was experienced.  
The topic rounded back into crime after that; the gossip going around between mob families and solo crooks alike. Barry always found it hilarious that even criminals weren't safe from such a thing.

[...]

A glass of water tips over as the toe of a shoe bangs into the leg of the coffee table. In that moment, the room could have sworn they were all dreaming.  
Barry reaches to catch it, eyes wide and brow furrowed as he moves smoothly while the glass tips in slow motion- even the water spilling over it sloshes at an alarming rate.  
Lisa, Mick, and Leonard, they watch as his figure blurs like a glitch in a video game.

He reaches, but the world comes back into it's right speed before he can grab the glass. Not a muscle is moved as the makeshift family gawks at each other. Barry looks around at the others curiously. "What...Happened?"  
"You tell us." Mick says slowly, as if unsure.  
"The glass," He gestures to the fallen water, eyes . "It was moving in slow motion- you saw that, right? You guys saw that?"  
"Barry--" Lisa tries, only to be cut off by her brother.  
"That's not how it went on our end."

"What.. do you mean?"


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WELL this took longer than planned for something so short. And I can't promise more updates will be any faster, really, as I've got two jobs and a book to write on top of taking care of the house some and myself plenty. The fic isn't and wont be abandoned though, I still have all of my notes for what I want to do with it.

The drive to the labs is tense. Mick and Leonard's faces were too well known to risk walking into the building even while Barry was in his coma. Lisa apparently visited almost every day just to see how he was doing. She confirmed early on that they knew who Leonard Snart and Mick Rory were. At least, one of them did and that was all that was required to know what would happen if they came around. Thus she began reporting back as often as she saw him.  
Some people say that those in comas could hear what was happening around them. Barry wished that were true but all he remembered was her yelling something he couldn't quite understand. He might ask about it later, once they have answers for what happened earlier.

His nerves aren't quite steady upon walking into the labs. He can feel that Lisa's aren't either. He felt the same in the car where Mick and Leonard were waiting reluctantly. It was only upon seeing Harrison Wells that anything in his gut changed.

He had dreamed of meeting the man. Mick could call him ridiculous all he wanted, there was nothing wrong with having an idle of some sort. Barry remembered distinctly the rolling eyes when he picked up his autobiography. Just to spite them he read it twice. Harrison himself was half of the reason Barry wanted to see the particle accelerator turn on. That though would have meant listening to a speech. Now he was getting to have a conversation with the man and even under such odd and generally unpleasant circumstances, that was an unbelievable chance.

He tries not to seem excited when being addressed with a smooth "Hello, Barry." as he wheels himself over. "Hello again Lisa." He adds, offering her a nod in acknowledgement.  
"Doctor Wells." She replies, folding her arms over her chest.  
"You'll have to excuse my manners, your sister refused to give us your last name."

Barry blinks in confusion, a nervous grin pulling at his lips. "Uh, yeah um.."  
"Don't worry about it, Bear." She says with a soft touch to his arm.  
"Right-"  
"Why don't we have a chat?" Harrison asks, only waiting a moment for Barry's eager nod before turning his chair around.

As they start down the hallway Barry can't help the words tumbling past his lips as he glance between the man beside him and the hallway he never imagined walking down before. "I still can't believe I'm here- or have been here for nine months. I've always wanted to meet you."  
"Well you certainly went to great lengths to do it.. S.T.A.R. Labs has not been operational since we were categorized as a class four hazardous location. Seventeen people died that night, many more were injured. Myself amongst them." They near an end in the pathway and a railing in place to stop onlookers from falling, only stopping right at the edge. Harrison looks at Barry expectantly until he leans forward enough to peer into the wreckage below.

It was a disaster. Rubble and torn apart pieces of machinery all that seemed to remain from this view. Barry's brow furrows in confusion. "What happened?"  
"Nine months ago the particle accelerator went online exactly as planned, for forty five minutes I had achieved my life's dream and then... Then there was an anomaly. The electron volts became unmeasurable, the ring under us popped, energy from that detonation was thrown into the sky and that in turn seeded a storm cloud--"  
"That created the lightning bolt that struck me.."  
"That's right." Said with a nod. "I was recovering myself when I heard about you. The hospital was experiencing unexplainable power-outages every time _you_ were going into cardiac arrest- which was a misdiagnosis because you see, you weren't flat-lining Barry. Your heart beat was moving too _fast_ for the EKG to register it." And with that they begin back down the hallway once again to cycle back to where Lisa and the two remaining scientists were waiting. "Now I'm not the most.. Popular person these days, but your sister gave me permission to bring you here where we were able to stabilize you."

It made enough sense. Knowing Lisa he suspects that every person unable to take care of him was being shouted at for failure, with blame as if they were personally responsible for the lightning strike.  
She was as protective as any of them; willing to take a bullet for one another as well as fire one at a moment's notice. Barry was on the fence about doing the killing himself but if it came down to his family's life or someone else's, his family would win in a heart beat. He certainly wasn't afraid to do less in defense of the ones who took him in all of those years ago. It was honestly touching how they too worried for him.

His expression softens as he loses himself in thought, wondering if the memory of Lisa's rage was during that night.  
"Barry?" The voice cuts through with a tone that said it wasn't the first time he had been asked.  
"What? Sorry. What were you saying?" He asks, looking down at Harrison beside him and shoving his hands into his pockets.  
"I was asking if you could elaborate on what brought you back today."  
"Right um...

[...]

Even after they leave Barry can't help but be hung up on everything that had happened in one day.

He doesn't want to think on it too much. Not right now. Not the same day he got back to his family- all he wanted since he woke was to catch up with them and sleep in his own bed when the sun went down.

"You alright, Barry?"  
He pauses, blinking at the sudden sound of Leonard's voice. "What? Yeah, yeah I'm good just.. Processing." In his peripheral vision he sees the older man's small nod.  
"Not every day you find out you have _superpowers_."  
Barry snorts. "Yeah, exactly." The older man's forearms come to rest on the back of Barry's chair, fingers tapping briefly as he draws out the moment in which he was pretending to ponder.  
"I have an idea regarding these new abilities of yours.. Lisa says the lab geeks want to study you, and clearly you need to learn how to get a handle of all of this, so how about in a day or two you head back there and do some training? Play nice, let them run some tests while you see what all you can do, how to control it."  
Turning his head to get eyes on Leonard again, he takes a moment to consider the plausibility of the idea. "It'll probably take more than one afternoon- I could be going back for weeks."  
"So? More time with your idol."  
"I guess.. I dunno, it's probably the best way to get the hang of this but it _sounds_ weird."

With a shrug in response, Leonard turns to leave.

His head was starting to hurt with all of the thought. Or perhaps all of the energy strumming through his body now. Whatever it is, he needs a break from it. Standing Barry goes to the kitchen in search of cocoa powder- which is no longer where it was nine months ago. Opening and searching every cabinet one by one, he finds that nothing was where he remembered it to be. He does find the cocoa powder and the sugar, at least. It seemed at least one person had been doing 'stress cleaning' while he was asleep. Another day he will be more concerned, ask more questions about how his family was doing while he was in his coma, but for the time being he takes it as a compliment with a slight smile to himself.

None would expect his family to be the worry warts that they could be. Their images were solid, built up over years for good reason. Leonard was cold, unmerciful, fast to the trigger, and focused on himself and money first and foremost. Mick was a beast of a man full of rage and out of his mind, so in love with fire he just might let it kill him with a smile on his face, ready to destroy anyone in his or his partner's way. What they didn't know was how Mick used to sing so quiet and low to Barry when he was sick to help him sleep, how they build the most beautiful bonfires together and how he taught the younger man everything he knew about the destruction of a crime scene; how to figure out what happened looking at the aftermath. Even showed him how to make and dismantle a few types of bombs and how to weld.

Or how Leonard used to sit with him when he had nightmares, rubbing his back and humming lullabies without a hint of mockery no matter how late into his teens he was(between the two of them, Leonard definitely had the nicer singing voice but Barry enjoys hearing the rumbling in Mick's chest). How he was training Barry in how to build his own plans, should he choose to do so- something that he still tries to keep away from Lisa so that she never gets a spot on her record. He made it clear that he wanted the same for Barry, as if he were a younger brother to look after too, but he also always gave him the opportunity to leave whenever he wanted. It wasn't as if they kidnapped him, after all.

"Whatcha thinkin' about?" Lisa asks as she slides into his view. Barry can't recall a time she was anything less than graceful. He winces every time he thinks about her almost always silent movement, knowing why she gained the skill before she was allowed on jobs. _Skill_ he says, but knows that it was instinct long before now. Simply how she moved. Natural to her. Most people never needed to be so quiet. He tries not to think about why Leonard had the same ability, needed it for the same reasons, but used it to a lesser extent.

"Just...Everything." He answers with a sheepish smile, finally continuing in opening up the containers and searching for the kettle. "You guys. What I missed, what I'm gonna do now..."  
"You don't need to worry so much, Barry."  
"I'm not, it's just a lot to take in. What happened today, the news about the coma, wondering what I missed out on.."  
She pauses for a moment. "You noticed the cabinets, huh?"  
Barry gives a short laugh. "Yeah." Leonard may have the reputation, but Lisa was no slouch either. She was just as observant as her brother, they simply selected different things to care about.

"Well, you've got some tv to catch up on. Want to start when you've got the water on?"  
"Yes please."


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edited as of 1/19 to fix consistency problems.

Barry leans into the warmth against his shoulder, turning to reach for it with his other hand. How difficult it is to open his eyes, he hopes that it wasn't yet morning.  
Through the squint he eventually manages he thinks his wish was granted; it was dark, only a faint glow from the window leaking into the room. The warmth he curls into is a body, one wrapping its own arm around his shoulders. He rubs his face against the chest he was apparently nestled against and decides that it was Mick. Leonard may be in good shape but his strength lied in escape, being able to run fast, duck, and hold his own in a fight but he wasn't lifting weights like Mick was. His chest wouldn't have been so thick and firm.

"Hey." Barry mumbles.  
The hand now wrapped around him rubs his shoulder a few times. "Hey. How'd you sleep?"  
"Good. Thought I might not after nine months straight but that was great."  
"Good." Mick's arm around him tightens for a moment in an affectionate squeeze. "Glad you're okay, y'know? Gave us all a scare. Big one." Something in his tone tells Barry that there was more to say on the matter, but as usual with Mick, it was probably better not to push.  
"I know. Thanks...For waiting, I guess." As he shifts slightly to glance up at Mick's face and the older turns his head to look at him as well, he's met with a confused and possibly insulted expression. A slight, sheepish smile pulls at the corner of Barry's mouth and he returns to looking at the wall across from them. "Len always pointed out how I can just go whenever, and he's kicked you out a few times so when I thought about it I guess I'm just kind of... Not surprised exactly but... I appreciate you holding a spot for me."

"You don't fuck up like me. Still do, but different. An' he- none of us want you to feel like you gotta be here cause we helped you a while ago. No obligations here."  
"Yeah, no shit." Barry rolls his eyes, speaking with a fond tone. "You're my family, I want to be here." Still he understood the thought process that lead to concern, at least well enough to not argue with it. He was young when they met. In need and alone. Vulnerable. People in those situations and kids in even lesser ones were the easiest to manipulate and the combination is concerning. He has faith though that none of the three would do such a thing, especially considering they have yet to ask for a single thing in return. That, and Len certainly didn't know nor need to look after another kid at the time and yet he did so anyway, with absolutely nothing to gain from it.

As selfish and cruel as the man could be to others, he wasn't entirely bad. He's killed numerous times, all without a trace of remorse or guilt. Never wondering if they had families or friends. If they got in his way, they dropped. Yet he took in a young Barry Allen for no reason at all besides some odd kind of empathy.

"One of these days someone's gonna want to come to your place instead of theirs. Might not like it so much then."  
Barry snorts. His sex life wasn't incredibly active. He got around and mostly with lies and excuses galore to keep from being found out or having to deal with roommates, and so Mick’s point was completely valid. His current methods wouldn’t work forever, but still he merely shrugs. “I’ll figure it out when I get there.”

”Speaking off uh..”  
“Woah woah woah, I didn’t lose any memories, big guy. I remember the talk just fine.”  
Mick rolls his eyes and flicks the back of Barry’s head. “You’re a impulsive little shit that likes to get into trouble for kicks. Don’t do that too quick now. Get back on your feet and all that first, least for my sake.”  
He smiles wider then, obviously smug but choosing to not point out why. “Okay, Mick.”

[...]

It's Lisa who usually would get either Leonard or Mick to back down. She was the peacekeeper, to an extent. For the most part she stayed out of their fights with each other, but when other people were involved it was usually Lisa who kept either man in line when he couldn't seem to do it himself. Barry wished he could be so useful but he wasn't as good with words.

The first time they all go out since Barry's coma it could certainly come in handy, because Lisa is on the other side of the room dealing with personal business when the insults start flying. At least this time it was Leonard and not Mick, just to mix things up.

Clyde Mardon wasn't that big of a deal. His reputation wasn't pathetic but it was hardly spectacular either. He and his brother were bank robbers, which Barry thought was a bit of a pointless niche to have in this day and age. Back before cameras or DNA tests, in the days of Bonnie and Clyde it was excellent. Now however there was footage of every incident, the security in those buildings only got better and better. Most of the money wasn't even kept in the bank. For that they didn't have much weight to throw around and the most interesting thing about Clyde was that apparently he was thought to have died the night of the explosion.

Barry watches subtly, he and Mick mostly facing each other in the booth they sit at and murmuring back and forth while Leonard sizes the other man up. Barry should have stepped in already. He would if he was any good at calming Leonard down but as it was, all he can do is watch while the novelty criminal announces his new usefulness and demands he be let in on Leonard's kind of work. Controlling the weather, he says. Giving clouds to mask them, thunderstorms to distract or short out power sources. Leonard treats him like a moron and really it's only fair that he try to prove himself.  
Barry just really wished he hadn't when storm clouds begin rolling into the bar. If he ruins Saints and Sinners he'll have so many bullet holes in his back he'll look like a drain.

At least he's smart enough not to start any rain.

"What do you say, Snart?"  
Leonard eyes him carefully. It's a squint, a glare to most. Barry can see the gears turning in his head and he gauges the situation to be sure he isn't killed for what he wants to say. "I say you're an emotional little boy who never grew up and needs his brother to babysit him. Weirdo powers doesn't change that, only makes you even more of a liability that I don't have time for."  
Barry opens his mouth to interject, watching the man's blood boiling but all he can come up with makes the problem even worse. "And the ceilings aren't that high in here..Someone's going to but a round in your back if you don't get rid of this stuff. Mack is pretty tall, having to crouch down right now..." Mick chuckles, but Leonard doesn't look any more pleased.

By the time Lisa makes her way over Clyde is already turning to go, muttering threads, the clouds slowly beginning to dissipate. The older men in the booth fill her in. Barry doesn't pay attention. All he knows is that he was supposed to be impossible for what he could do now. That was what even the team at S.T.A.R. Labs said and yet there was a man that looked ready to go on a rampage manipulating the weather.

[...]

Leonard drives him over to the labs. The longer Barry had to the think about it all the more unhappy with the situation he became, he needed to get there quickly and get his answers but he wasn't in tune enough with his powers to be sure he could make it there without running past a dozen times over or killing himself by slamming into a brick wall. As soon as they begin rolling to a stop he was taking off his helmet, ignoring Leonard light chastising, trying to slow him down.

There isn't any security in the building anymore. It's rather moronic in his opinion, given the technology and information that was in side, but scientists weren't known for hopping over biohazard signs to check out a building possibly destroyed beyond repair. Getting in is easy, as is finding the three remaining employees doing who knows what given the state their work was in.

"I wasn't the only one effected by the explosion that night. Was I?" He demands. Wells looks to his colleagues before replying, and somehow it only makes Barry bristle further.  
"We don't know for sure."  
He scoffs. "You said the city was safe. That there was no residual danger. But that's not true so what really happened that night?"  
There's another pause and at this point Barry wonders how serious the scientist was taking the matter at all; either plenty to the point of shame or not at all, reflecting in his reluctance."  
"Well. The accelerator went active. We all felt like heroes," his tone becomes so bitter that Barry feels a sense of victory for striking the right chord. "and then it all went wrong. A demensional barrier ruptured, unleashing unknown energies into our world. Antimatter, dark energy, X-elements-"  
"Those are all theoretical."  
"And how theoretical are you?" Barry shuts his mouth. "We mapped the dispersion throughout and around Central City, though we have no way of knowing exactly what or- who was exposed. We've been searching for other.. metahumans, like yourself."

"Metahumans?" It sounded like a bad sci-fi novel. Or perhaps a very good one he was too confused and bitter to appreciate at the moment.  
"That's what we're calling them." Caitlin chimes in.  
Barry shakes his head. "I saw one today. A bank robber. He can control the weather thanks to you."

"This just keeps getting cooler.." His eyes shoot to Cisco who was grinning like an idiot, truly impressed with the criminal they just made even more powerful.  
"Oh really? Okay, yeah. Super cool.. His name is Clyde Mardon, you should look him up actually. Maybe grab a cup of coffee- just don't say where you work. He's trigger happy and doesn't give a shit who dies. His body count was almost impressive before, actually. Sloppy work if you ask me but hey, to each their own." Cisco gets quiet.

"I'm not much of an upstanding citizen, but this guy could cause a massacre and if he does, that's on you-"  
"That's a concern for the police." Wells interrupts, so clearly tired of the conversation and while Barry can't blame him, he can't stop himself from arguing either. Hardly a good person himself, he has no shame in admitting but at least he acknowledged his mistakes instead of sweeping them under the rug. He didn't hurt people that didn't need to be hurt for his or his family's sake. Perhaps he was on too high of a horse. His aforementioned family might even think so but their home being ruined by a mad man wasn't something any of them would be okay with either. More than that, Leonard sent him packing muttering words of revenge. If the first to die next was one of Barry's own, the one after that might have to be Harrison Wells.

"Oh yeah? What cop is even going to believe it?"  
"What is important is you. I lost everything. I lost my company, I lost my reputation, I lost my freedom. And then you broke your arm and healed within two hours- inside your body--"  
"So I'm an experiment for you?! Are you even hearing what I just said?!"  
"We cannot risk everything because you want to go out and play hero! You're not a hero! You're just a young man who was struck by lightening."

His grits his teeth, hands clenching and lightening flickering in his eyes. A bitter grin pulls at his lips and for a moment he thinks he sees fascination washing over Wells. "Clyde is angry right now. Not just in general, he's pissed at my family. If something happens to them because you didn't give enough of a shit about other people then I swear to god..."

Shaking his head again, Barry turns away. Pacing in a small circle he runs his hands down his face and turns to the younger two in the room. “You all lost something that night. I get that. All I want is to keep from losing the people I love too. If you don’t care that’s fine but at least be brave enough to say it like your boss here.” And with that he’s all out of things to say, and no where near ready to listen to anything else. He makes his leave to find Leonard waiting patiently out from where he left him.

”Have fun?”  
“A blast.”  
“You gonna tell me what about this got you all riled up?”  
“Maybe later.”

Later never comes in that sense. He doubts any of them would take it as seriously as Barry does, and even if they did they wouldn’t admit it. Their lives were always at risk, after all. Any jobs could end in death by cop. Any time in prison could have a fight they were just too surprised for. It wasn’t a new concept to these men. The part that Barry cared about was how he just got back to them.

[...]

“Barry!” He has no doubt that if Leonard found out about this he wouldn’t be allowed out of his sight for weeks. After a long night Barry goes for coffee the next afternoon, barely managing to do so by himself as it was. To their credit, his family wasn’t looking to lose him again either. He loves the sentiment but time alone was needed after the night he had. Of course this is when detective Eddie Thawne spots him for the first time since the explosion. And by the looks of it he was with fellow law enforcement as well.

When they make eye contact Eddie springs to his feet, offering a quick apology to the other man at his table before making his way over. “I haven’t seen you around in.. months. How are you?”  
“Yeah, yeah I was uh..” he scratches the back of his head, offering a somewhat sheepish smile. “You remember the lightening strike?"  
"How could I forget?"  
Barry nods. “I was in a coma for about nine months.” The compassion in the man’s eyes would make Mick sick. “I’m okay now though, really. Better than ever.”

”I’m glad to hear that.. You know I thought your sister was going to actually bite my head off when she saw me with you.” The genuineness of his voice tells Barry that this man did, for some reason, in fact miss him all this time. It’s flattering, truly, but Barry doesn’t know what to do with it. As much must show on his face because rather quickly Eddie was graciously letting the subject pass. “We should get coffee again sometime, catch up.” Barry quirks a brow, and he continues with a bashful smile. “I know we’re in a coffee shop right now, obviously, I’m just going over a case with my partner so I can’t invite you to join us.”  
“That’s okay,” he chuckles lightly. “Introduce me sometime?”

He doesn’t mean it, but Eddie thinks that he does and seems very amused with the prospect instantly. “Yeah, yeah come on.”  
He pauses. “Right now?”  
“Why not?” Eddie is already walking back his table, glancing over his shoulder at the younger man. Barry curses under his breath and follows.

”Joe, this is my friend Barry. He got struck by lightening and lived.”  
He knows the man who looks back at him. He used to be like family once upon a time, but he doesn’t recognize Barry and he couldn’t be more grateful. Time did a lot of things, and Barry looked very little like he did as a ten year old. The name however seemed to be familiar enough to make Joe pause. “Barry? Interesting name.” It sounds as friendly as anything, only making Eddie tilt his head in confusion to the fact that he grabbed a name as interesting instead of the part about the lightening.  
“It’s short for something, isn’t it?” Eddie asks, going with the flow apparently.  
“Yeah, uh, Bartholomew.” He can see the moment Joe wonders if it was him, and the moment he dismisses it as impossible.

”Well it’s nice to meet you, detective, but I was just grabbing coffee for me and my sister, I should probably get back to her before she gets all grouchy.”  
“You too, Barry.” Joe holds out his hand, and Barry doesn’t hesitate to take it.

If anything else goes wrong in the next two days Barry isn’t sure how much longer he could handle this city.

Cisco calls that night to tell him that he and Caitlin want to help. It would be a win if the police weren't on the same trail and pissing Clyde off before Barry even got there- just in time to stop Eddie and Joe from being hit by a flying shed roof due to a forming tornado. They didn't plan for this. All they did was make it worse. If Barry could have brought his own gun with him he would have, but tonight he was playing hero with a few hardly helpful sidekicks. Cisco and Caitlin supplied the suit and the location but once he was there they did nothing but watch and tell him what the downside might be when there were no other options to chose from.

In the end Wells is the one to cheer him on and that fact alone he wont forget any time soon, and it's the detectives that take down the self-proclaimed god after Barry takes out the biggest threat. He makes eye contact with Joe for all of a second before he turns tail and runs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's good to be back. And while I'm here I wanted to mention the possible shipping in this story; I'm going with what flows for me as for when to include it and such but even back when I started writing this all I had two options in mind and figured I'd just feel 'em out and see what you guys wanted to see.  
> Sooo keep that in mind whenever reading interactions between Barry and Eddie, and Barry and Mick, and if you don't let me know which one you're more into I'll have to decide on my own and it might not be the one you wanted. Whoo!


End file.
